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Maine successfully makes Indians debut

Maine successfully makes Indians debut

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Scott Maine

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MINNEAPOLIS -- The Indians finally got a look at reliever Scott Maine on Saturday, as he made his first appearance with the club.

Maine's outing was a mixed bag. The left-hander entered in the fifth inning against the Twins, who had loaded the bases with one out. Maine issued an eight-pitch walk to Justin Morneau to bring in a run. But he did strike out Ryan Doumit and induce a groundout from Chris Parmelee to finish the inning with limited damage.

Obviously, Indians manager Manny Acta will need to see more than 2/3 of an inning to evaluate Maine further, but he liked what he saw on Saturday.

"He's got some deception with the angle where he throws the ball from," Acta said. "Pretty firm -- he was throwing the ball 93 miles per hour. Sharp slider. I could see how he could be pretty effective against left-handed hitters. It's only been one inning. He's going to get more chances for us to take a look at him."

Cleveland claimed Maine off outright waivers from the Cubs on Aug. 29. He pitched two scoreless innings in two appearances for Triple-A Columbus before being recalled on Sept. 4.

Maine recorded a 4.79 ERA in 20 2/3 innings for Chicago earlier this season. But with his self-described "funky" delivery, he specialized against left-handed hitters, holding them to a .130 average (3-for-23).

The 27-year-old said he has thrown the same way ever since he first picked up a baseball. Coaches tried to make him adjust when he was younger, but he never obliged.

"They tried to change me," Maine said. "You throw one way naturally, and that's the way I throw. Every other way is just uncomfortable. So I had to refine the way I throw and make it work."